It is known from practice for holes to be incorporated in metal bodywork panels using a hand drilling machine. A procedure such as this has been found to have the disadvantage that, on the one hand, it is often difficult when using hand drilling machines to align the tool at right angles to the surface to be machined, and to keep it aligned. A drill inclined at an angle results in the drill becoming damaged much more quickly, for example by the edges being broken out or the drill running away, which can damage a large area of the metal panel.
Furthermore, particularly in the case of high-strength metal panels, the force which is required to feed the drill is quite high. This results in the user becoming tired quickly.
German Utility Model Specification DE 9318041 (IJOT Verbindungstechnik GmbH & Co. KG) has disclosed a machine tool which has suction cups in order to hold it firmly on the surface to be machined, and which has a pneumatic feed device.
A pneumatic system such as this has the disadvantage that, on the one hand, it is very complex, and leads to a tool which is very heavy and large. Furthermore, this machine tool can be held only inadequately in its position by the user if the suction cups become detached from the surface to be machined. This can lead to damage to the workpiece resulting from movement of the machine tool.